Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Sometimes a Hero's risk-taking ante is upped by giving the Hero a
weakness, fear, or other handicap that makes success that much harder.
The classic example is the normally fearless Indiana Jones and his snake
phobia. Alfred Hitchcock's
Vertigo
features a Hero who is terrified of
heights but must conquer that fear in order to resolve the conflict. And in
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
, private eye Eddie Valiant, in order to resolve
the conflict, must overcome his paralyzing fear of Toontown (where his
brother was killed by a homicidal cartoon character).
Inherent to the concept of risk is that of sacrifice. There is a danger of
losing something important with every risk a Hero takes, and sometimes
things don't go the Hero's way. Even if the conflict is successfully resolved,
sometimes the Hero pays a terrible price, occasionally even the ultimate
one. Audiences, aware of this, can be made to legitimately worry for the
fate of the Hero—a huge part of keeping them engaged and wanting to
see how things turn out.
In games, of course, the heroic elements of risk and sacrifice are seen
through a different lens: the player's. It is rare that the player has any true
fear of forging ahead in a game, because ultimately his own life is not
really on the line. This is another example of ludonarrative dissonance, and
one that is difficult to completely overcome. It's the reason why in games
you rarely see the Refusal of the Call—Heroes can be reluctant, but players
rarely are.
There are ways to bridge this ludonarrative gap, however. While a player
may not share with his avatar a true fear of being in danger, the game
design can be structured in such a way that something the player has
worked to build up or find within the game space is put at risk. “Rogue-
like” games are built on this foundation of player risk and sacrifice, and
while games such as these can be exhilarating, they can also be frustrating
and are certainly not for every player. Your design need not be quite so
punishing, but putting at least something the player is likely to treasure on
the line can help harmonize the player character's sense of risk-taking
with that of the player himself.
Final Thoughts on Heroes
There are all kinds of Heroes, but they tend to have certain things in com-
mon. Once again, this list includes:
